There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage after Western Quebec and the Ottawa area were rocked Friday night by a "moderate" earthquake, Natural Resources Canada reported.

Sylvia Hayek, seismologist for Natural Resources Canada, said the earthquake measured a magnitude 4.5, but wasn't strong enough to cause major damage.

"It's a moderate earthquake, so we wouldn't expect any damage," Hayek said late Friday.

The temblor's epicentre was 20 kilometres east of Cumberland, Ont., 38 kilometres east of Gatineau, and about 42 kilometres east-northeast of Ottawa, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on its website.

The earthquake, which was 15-kilometres deep, struck the area just past 8:30 p.m. ET.

Earlier estimates had placed the tremor at around magnitude 3.0, but analyst Angel Gutierrez told CP that the strength had been updated after the data was reviewed.

"It's still very small, but it's stronger than we first thought," he said.

"If (people) are already awake, yeah, they'll probably feel it, but I don't think it's going to wake up anybody," he said late Friday.

Ottawa police said they had received 100 to 150 calls from residents wondering what had happened.

"(People were) just wondering what the heck was going on," Ottawa police Sgt. Denis Cleroux told CP.

CTV's Mike Duffy, who lives west of Ottawa in Kanata, described what he heard as a "low rumble that sounded like an aircraft passing by."

As the quake became louder, Duffy said it sounded a bit more like "a washing machine that was out of balance and was making this huge whooshing sound."

Montreal radio station CJAD also reported receiving calls from several residents who said they felt a tremor.

Natural Resources Canada seismologist John Cassidy told CTV Newsnet that earthquakes are fairly common in the area.

"Small earthquakes occur just north of Ottawa through what's called the Western Quebec Seismic Zone and also along the St. Lawrence Valley so we do see small earthquakes occurring on a routine basis through that area," Cassidy said, adding that quakes of the same magnitude occur throughout the region about once every five to 10 years.

With files from The Canadian Press